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Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina's 'Riot Days' are not over yet

On her way to Berlin, the Pussy Riot activist's boyfriend was arrested for an action in support of political prisoners. Alyokhina told DW about how the movement is attracting unlikely candidates, and revealed new plans.

Before the reading, DW met up with the Russian activist to discuss current developments in Russia.

She showed up late for the interview, visibly upset, explaining, "My boyfriend was arrested at the airport today."

Alyokhina said that he was detained for his participation in a recent political action. MediaZona, the alternative media platform Alyokhina founded together with her Pussy Riot co-activist Nadeschda Tolokonnikova, reported that they had obtained a copy of the police protocol of his detention, stating that Dmitry Tsorionov (nicknamed Enteo) had been identified as one of the activists who had hung a banner on the Bolshoi Kammeny Bridge on November 8. The banner showed photos of various people who are identified by human rights activists as political prisoners, along with the words "Stop (!) Gulag" in Russian.

According to Alyokhina and MediaZona, one of the Pussy Riot members who participated in the action, Lyudmila Sukova, was also detained and released with an order to appear in court a week later. The action was jointly organized by Pussy Riot activists and members of the Dekommunizatsiya (Decommunization) movement.

Alyokhina told DW on Friday that Enteo would be kept for five days in prison.

The banner that led to the detention of activists

Hundreds of victims of repression

The banner the masked activists unfurled last week on the bridge near the Kremlin portrayed people who are imprisoned or facing a long prison sentence. Their action aimed to raise attention to these cases ahead of upcoming trials.

The pro-democracy activist Anastasia Shevchenko is among them, as is Yegor Zhukov, a student who has a widely popular YouTube channel criticizing the government of President Vladimir Putin. Both are under house arrest awaiting trial with a possible sentence of several years.

Another young man portrayed on the banner, Konstantin Kotov, was sentenced to four and a half years of prison in September 2019 for participating in several peaceful demonstrations. "He was only holding a small piece of paper at a demonstration, just imagine," said Alyokhina. His case was also reported on by Human Rights Watch, in an article that recalls that "since 2014, Russian law mandates criminal sanctions for participating in more than two unauthorized public gatherings within six months."

At the Berlin event, Maria Alyokhina was more focused on what was unfolding at home than her reading

"All of this is a big tragedy, and this is just a small part of it," said Alyokhina. "Since 2012 our country has changed a lot. We now have hundreds of political prisoners," she added. "It's much more important to talk about them, not about us."

The unlikely couple

Nevertheless, one unusual aspect about Alyokhina's boyfriend needs to be discussed.

Enteo may now be unfurling banners alongside Pussy Riot activists, but back in 2012, he was among those who aimed to get Pussy Riot behind bars. A renowned leading far-right Orthodox activist, he led controversial and sometimes violent actions against homosexuals and abortion, as well as stunts disrupting contemporary art exhibitions and theater productions promoting a secular state.

On the other extreme, Pussy Riot gained global notoriety through their performance in a Moscow cathedral that the Orthodox Church deemed sacrilegious. Lyrics of their songs promote feminism, LGBT rights and opposition to Putin.

A controversial figure: Dmitry Enteo was formerly the leader of a far-right Orthodox movement

So when Alyokhina started dating Enteo at the end of 2016, it was shocking news for all of their friends — and anyone acquainted with the Russian activist scene.

Their relation also challenges the media's usual narratives, according to which only politically like-minded activists can be together — perhaps even in the same room.

So where do these two people find common ground for joint activism?

Alyokhina explained that Enteo was banned from his Orthodox movement, "God's Will," after he invited her to read the Bible with him in public in front of the Ministry of Justice in July 2017. The action was in protest against the prohibition of public readings of the Bible without state permission. The Orthodox group called Alyokhina's presence blasphemous.

"And I think in many things he changed his position," said Alyokhina of her controversial boyfriend. "He's not an ultra-right Orthodox like he was before. He's doing good projects."

She cited the work Enteo does with his current Decommunization movement, which is "against totalitarian regimes and reflecting on what happened in the Soviet Union," said Alyokhin. Russia has until now avoided dealing with the terrors of the country's past, promoting its glorious aspects instead. Stalin is still a revered figure in the country. A record 70% of Russians approve of Soviet leader Josef Stalin's role in history, according to a poll published by the independent research organization Levada Center in April 2019. The sharpest rise in support for him is among people aged 18-30. Few of them are even aware that the dictator led ethnic cleansing campaigns, deportations, famines and executions that killed millions.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Russia was to pay damages of €37,000 ($41,000) to the three Pussy Riot activists who were imprisoned. It was made public on November 13 that the Russian government had complied with the court ruling, paying out the Pussy Riot members. But Alyokhina doesn't believe that fine serves as a deterrent: "It's not Vladimir Putin who is paying. The Russian people are paying."

That's why Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova decided to donate that money to various projects, including their media platform, MediaZona, one of the rare news outlets that is still sending reporters to Russian courtrooms to cover political cases.

Another part of the money will be invested in the creation of a new prize, the Pussy Riot Award Against Domestic Violence. The award supports independent filmmakers, journalists and anyone else producing material on the topic. Pussy Riot will be announcing the award officially in the next two weeks, Alyokhina revealed.

The Pussy Riot masks have become an iconic symbol of protest

Hope in fellow activists

The activist network created over the course of Pussy Riot's history is what gives Alyokhina strength to go on. "Even in prison, I met so many amazing people who became my good friends and who became activists."

As a demonstration of how the movement can attract more unlikely candidates, Alyokhina told of how the editor of Riot Days, Olga Borisova (top picture, left) had previously spent two years working for the police in St. Petersburg, initially believing that it was a way to fight for justice. According to Borisova's own account on the website Batenka.ru, once the young woman saw the system from the inside, she resigned and became an activist. "And I couldn't have made this book without her, says Alyokhina.

"I think hope is inside us," she adds. "I really believe in solidarity because nobody knows what will happen next. At least I know that I have really good friends who will not go away if I'm in trouble — and the other way around. That's really a big thing. It can give you power for days and months and years."

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

Starting a riot

All-girl Russian punk protest band Pussy Riot created an international storm in 2012 with a guerrilla performance in Moscow's main cathedral that called for the Virgin Mary to protect Russia against Vladimir Putin, who was elected to a new term as Russia's president a few days later. The protest attracted worldwide attention, and three members of the group were arrested.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

State censorship

During the ensuing court hearing in Moscow in August 2012, Pussy Riot members Nadya Tolokonnikova (right), Maria Alyokhina (center) and Yekaterina Samutsevich (left) could be seen in a glass-walled cage. Support for the Pussy Riot activists came from all over the world.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

Cause celebre

Pussy Riot's iconic colorful balaclava face masks allowed supporters near and far to become "members of the band." Here, a protester is arrested during a demonstration in support of Pussy Riot in 2012 in front of the Russian consulate in New York on the day a Russian judge found three members of the provocative punk band guilty of hooliganism.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

No way out

Pussy Riot band member Nadya Tolokonnikova looks out from a holding cell during a court hearing in April 2013. Tolokonnikova was appealing her conviction for "hooliganism motivated by religious hate," for which she was serving two years in a remote prison. Many international stars such as Madonna called for the Pussy Riot members' release.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

Back under attack

After their release from prison under an amnesty in late 2013, Pussy Riot were soon protesting again, this time at the Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi. While they were preparing to sing the song "Putin Will Teach You to Love Your Motherland," a spoof on state nationalism, a Cossack militiaman who was armed with a whip attacked band member Nadya Tolokonnikova and a photographer.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

Fight the power

Masked Pussy Rot members leave a police station in Adler during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in February 2014. Two members of the band, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, were detained after they were wrongfully suspected of stealing a handbag from their hotel.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

Getting the word out

By 2015, Moscow-based Maria Alyokhina (left) and Nadya Tolokonnikova increasingly traveled Europe to continue campaigning against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Here they answer questions from the audience at the 23rd Sziget (Island) Festival on Shipyard Island in Budapest, Hungary, on August 14, 2015.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

Part of Banksy's world

Here, in September 2015, Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina performed at the closing party of the "Dismaland" project by graffiti artist Banksy. The street artist described his subversive, pop-up exhibition at the derelict seafront Tropicana lido in the UK as a "bemusement park."

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

How to start a revolution

Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova wrote her own guide to individual freedom in the face of totalitarianism, "How to Start a Revolution," which was published in 2016. She soon toured the book around the world, stopping in Berlin and at the Lit.Cologne literary festival (above).

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

Provoking the corrupt security state

In 2016, Pussy Riot were again indulging in political provocation at home, releasing a film clip to their new protest song "Chaika" that mocks corrupt and violent Russian security agencies – under whom the jailed band members faced "endless humiliations" – after it was revealed that the country's chief prosecutor, Yuri Chaika, had links to the local mafia.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

Trump meets Putin

Pussy Riot's criticism not only targets Russian authorities: At this performance in a San Francisco theater in February, a caricature of Donald Trump accompanied Vladimir Putin on stage. During the event, they discussed the current state of human rights in Russia, and how LGBT individuals and political activists in prison are affected.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

The struggle continues

On August 6, 2017, Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Olga Borisova held flares and a banner on a bridge near a prison in Yakutsk, Russia to protest the jailing of film director Oleg Sentsov. He was arrested in Crimea – which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 – and convicted by a Russian military court of conspiracy to commit terror attacks. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

Live in Germany

In September 2017, the group performed their "feminist punk manifesto" in Germany at Frankfurt's Künstlerhaus Mousonturm. Titled "Riot Days," the concert is based on band member Maria Alyokhina's eponymous book that describes her co-founding of Pussy Riot in 2011 with Nadya Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

Shutting down Trump Tower

In October 2017, the group stormed Trump Tower in New York City to voice opposition to Putin and Trump and the incarceration of political prisoners. Wearing their famous balaclavas, they held up a banner once again urging the release of Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov. Police closed the 58-story skyscraper for a half hour.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

Protest on the pitch

Dressed as police officers, members of the collective invaded the pitch during the World Cup final in Russia, interrupting the game. According to the group, the goals of the protest were for the Russian authorities to free all political prisoners, stop illegal arrests at public rallies and allow political competition in the country. The members were sentenced to 15 days of jail time.

Riot Days: Pussy Riot's acts of defiance

A suspected poisoning

One of the Pussy Riot activists at the FIFA World Cup protest was Pyotr Verzilov, who is also a publisher at MediaZona, an online news site that focuses on human rights violations in Russia's penal system. In September 2018, the dissident experienced symptoms of poisoning. He was sent to Berlin for treatment and was placed under police protection. He recovered.